Transition week, with a lot of paperwork done to move on from one column cycle to the next. Jazz Consumer Guide (15) came out in the Village Voice last week. Most of those records have been kicking around for the better part of a year, but lots of good things, worth being reminded of. (Except for the duds, of course.) We've decided to start printing grades with the duds, so for the record:

• Satoko Fujii Quartet: Bacchus (Onoff) C+
• Herbie Hancock: River: The Joni Letters (Verve) B-
• Miroslav Vitous: Universal Syncopations II (ECM) B-

Hancock won a Grammy between when I submitted the draft and its final appearance. I've been wondering whether I was too harsh. To some extent, my complaint boils down to arguing that a different record -- specifically one with no vocals -- would have been much better. Or maybe a vocal album could have been salvaged had the singers been more distinctive, but only Leonard Cohen managed to break the mold (and he could hardly help it). I stand by my grade, but predict that samplers will be listening to the Wayne Shorter solos.

The Fujii Quartet is the same group as put out Zephyros, one of her best albums (When We Were There is another), so the drop was especially noteworthy. Vitous slipped by no reconvening the group behind his original Universal Syncopations. The substitutes fall short on every count, and his sampling doesn't make up for it.

It looks like I'll be able to by with no "Dud of the Month" going forward. Also looks like April will be open for the next Jazz Consumer Guide column. Whether the quicker pace can be sustained isn't clear, but for now I'm almost ready, and Francis Davis is on leave.

Another intense week of jazz prospecting. Items with bracketed grades have been shelved for another round. There are more than usual; at this point in the cycle I feel more like working fast through the incoming queues. It actually looks like I've gotten through more than half of my backlog. One, maybe two more weeks like this, and I'll start trying to nail the column down.

Maceo Parker: Roots & Grooves (2007 [2008], Heads Up, 2CD): An alto saxophonist, Parker has played on dozens of great albums, but he's never put his name on one before. He joined James Brown in 1964, then moved on to George Clinton in 1975 and back to Brown in 1984. Both leaders spun off instrumental albums, first as the J.B.'s, then as the Horny Horns. Since 1989 Parker has recorded a dozen albums, mostly underachieving the modest goals announced in their titles: Roots Revisited, Mo' Roots, Life on Planet Groove, Funk Overload, etc. This looked like another, until I popped it in and it blasted off into "Hallelujah I Love Her So." First disc is titled "Tribute to Ray Charles," and works through "Busted," "Hit the Road Jack," a few more, climaxing with "What'd I Say." Parker sings a few -- he's more Cleanhead Vinson than Ray Charles, but that works for me. Parker doesn't have the direct connection that Fathead Newman has, but he started out when Charles was laying the foundation his whole career was built on. Second disc is called "Back to Funk": five originals and "Pass the Peas" from J.B.'s days. It's less obvious and every bit as exciting. The secret in both cases is the band. Directed by Michael Abene, the WDR Big Band Köln will play anything with anyone -- their purpose, after all, is to crank out radio shots with visiting dignitaries -- and they've never amounted to much, but they have a ball here. Maybe it's too easy: Charles ran a big band himself, and scaling Parker's grooves up to J.B.-size is as obvious as it is fun. Parker gloats in the dêjà vu. With Charles and Brown gone, he's just the guy to honor them. [Note: Don't know when this was recorded. Album appears to have been released in Europe in 2007, and reissued in US by Heads Up, which has been picking up quite a bit of WDR Big Band material.] A-

Horace Silver: Live at Newport '58 (1958 [2007], Blue Note): I'm glad that Blue Note keeps digging old concert tapes up: the 1956 Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane set was a real find; the 1964 Charles Mingus/Eric Dolphy didn't really deliver the historical import or musical interest attributed to it -- quite a bit of later material from the same group has been out for a long time -- but was good to have nonetheless. This one is slighter than the others in terms of historical interest, but delightful in its own minor ways. Silver's group included Louis Smith on trumpet, a little recorded interlude between Donald Byrd and Blue Mitchell. The rest are: Junior Cook on tenor sax, Gene Taylor on bass, Louis Hayes on drums, and Silver, of course, on piano. Only four cuts, with the marvelous "Señor Blues" the shortest at 8:42 (not much longer than the earlier studio version) and "Tippin'" topping out at 13:10 (more than double the studio version). The extra space is put to good use by the horns and piano, but this doesn't add much for anyone familiar with Silver. The earlier Six Pieces of Silver, with Byrd and Hank Mobley, has 3 of 4 songs; the later Doin' the Thing is an even better sample of Silver live. I can't recommend this over either, but it doesn't miss by much, and it would be churlish to scare anyone away from this "Señor Blues," some marvelous piano, and the chance to hear Smith. A-

Buddy DeFranco: Charlie Cat 2 (2006 [2007], Arbors): Born 1923, DeFranco came up in the swing bands of Gene Krupa and Charlie Barnet, but adapted to bebop, one of the few young reed players to stick with the instrument. He started recording around 1952, his output waxing and waning with business cycles, but he pretty much always sounds the same: the bright tone and fleet dynamics you remember from the swing masters, occasionally showing off his bebop moves. He hasn't recorded a lot lately, but sounds fine here -- well supported with Howard Alden and often Joe Cohn on guitar, Derek Smith on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, Ed Metz Jr. on drums, and Lou Soloff adding some contrast on trumpet. [B+(**)]

Howard Alden and Ken Peplowski's Pow-Wow (2006 [2008], Arbors): I still think of Alden as a young guy, but he's pushing 50 now. He came up well after bop became postbop, so he never had to pay much heed to it, developing a swing style on guitar that never really existed before -- real swing guitarists (unless you count Charlie Christian, which most don't, or Django Reinhardt and Eddie Lang, other stories completely) played rhythm. (Oh yeah, George Van Eps was an influence, a pretty obscure one.) He has a couple dozen albums since 1985. Peplowski plays clarinet and tenor sax, where swing traditions are much clearer. He's a year younger, also has a couple dozen albums. Don't know how many times they've played together before -- at least 11 times, but working in the same circles with each over 100 credits there are doubtless more. This isn't even their first duo: they did one in Concord's Duo Series in 1992 (which my records say I have ungraded but I can't find). I'm not much of a duo fan, but works out pretty well. Peplowski has a knack for tracing out clear melodies even solo. Alden can pick him up with some rhythm, fill out his lines, or add something on his own. The album wanders around quite a bit, mixing Bill Evans with Ellington, Bud Powell with Cole Porter, hopping off to "Panama." B+(***)

Al Basile: Tinge (2007 [2008], Sweetspot): Born 1948 in Haverhill, MA. Learned trumpet as a teenager, but majored in physics at Brown, and seems to have had a spotty musical resume until he started recording in 1998. Played trumpet in Roomful of Blues 1973-75. Started singing in clubs in Providence in 1977. Has six albums now. Don't know about the others, but this one, with Duke Robillard producing and playing guitar, is straight blues with a dash of Jelly Roll Morton providing the title. Basile's liner notes include references to Louis Armstrong and Cootie Williams. Smart, sensible record. B+(**)

ZMF Trio: Circle the Path (2005 [2007], Drip Audio): ZMF stands for Jesse Zubot (violin), Jean Martin (drums), Joe Fonda (bass). Label describes them as international: Zubot is from Vancouver, Martin from Toronto, Fonda is well known on the avant-garde in New York. Zubot is also involved in the rockish Fond of Tigers group, and he runs the label, which has branched out beyond his own work -- a few more items are on my shelf, including a new John Butcher album, and he seems to have something by Leroy Jenkins in the pipeline. Other than that, don't know much about him. This is avant, by turns aggressive and moody. Martin wrote one piece, Fonda three, Zubot four. The only outside credit is to Anthony Braxton. Didn't catch enough of it first time through, but will play more. [B+(***)]

John Butcher/Torsten Muller/Dylan van der Schyff: Way Out Northwest (2007 [2008], Drip Audio): Recorded in Vancouver by local drummer van der Schyff. Butcher is an English avant-garde saxophonist, plays tenor and soprano here. Has a PhD in theoretical physics (thesis: "Spin effects in the production and weak decay of heavy Quarks"). He has a long list of records, and is well known to anyone who reads The Penguin Guide more assiduously than The Bible, although few others are likely to have even heard of them. I've only heard three albums myself, nothing I much cared for, but hardly a representative sample. Müller (umlaut omitted here) is a bassist, b. 1957 in Hamburg, Germany, but since 2001 based in Vancouver. Müller has no albums of his own, but pops up all over the place, a notable common denominator here being his relationship with the late trombonist Paul Rutherford, to whom this record is dedicated. This is pretty rough free music, very democratic, or maybe I mean anarchic. One thing I rate avant records on is their crossover potential, and this clearly fails on that account. On the other hand, sometimes I like something perversely difficult I chuck my normal standards. This gorgeous ugly mess may be one of them. [A-]

The Inhabitants: The Furniture Moves Underneath (2007, Drip Audio): Vancouver group: JP Carter (trumpet), Dave Sikula (guitar), Pete Schmitt (bass), Skye Brooks (drums), with use of effects by the first three. Carter and Brooks are also in Fond of Tigers. Quasi-rockish instrumentals, starting off loud and brash, mellowing out later. The latter pieces with their ripened textures are more pleasing, and marginally more interesting. B

Steven Bernstein: Diaspora Suite (2007 [2008], Tzadik): Trumpet player, refers to Oakland as his hometown in liner notes here, although he's better known in New York. Credits include Lounge Lizards, Sex Mob, Robert Altman's Kansas City band, Baby Loves Jazz band, Millennial Territory Orchestra. This is his fourth Diaspora title in Tzadik's Radical Jewish Culture series. They refer back to sephardic folk songs, sometimes reframed in terms of where the diaspora found themselves, as with Diaspora Hollywood. This one jelled conceptually when the Kansas City band reunited after Robert Altman's death -- something about setting the scene then letting the improvisations fly. Large group: hype sheet refers to it as a nonet, but I count ten musicians -- possibly explained by a hint in the liner notes that Will Bernard added his "guitar sweeteners" after the fact. The group swallowed the Nels Cline Singers whole, with extra guitar and percussion, Ben Goldberg's clarinets, Peter Apfelbaum's tenor sax (or flute, or qarqabas, evidently metal castanets from Morocco), Jeff Cressman's trombone. I thought it sounded fabulous first time through, but haven't caught the mood since. Will keep it in play. [B+(***)]

The Jack & Jim Show Presents: Hearing Is Believing (2005 [2007], Boxholder): First, I have to admit that I had never heard of Jimmy Carl Black. Turns out that he was best known for being in my least favorite band of the twentieth century, the Mothers of Invention, usually filed under the bandleader's name, Frank Zappa, but his website discography totals 77 albums without getting past 2002. Black played drums, and introduced himself as "the Indian of the group." Later he had a band called Geronimo Black. Anyhow, he's the Jim. Jack must be guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, who I have heard of and rarely heard -- his website discography claims 180 records, so I haven't heard much. Together since 1995 as the Jack & Jim Show they have 8 previous albums. Might as well list them to get a whiff: Locked in a Dutch Coffeeshop, Pachuco Cadaver, Uncle Jimmy's Master Plan, The Early Years, The Perfect C&W Duo's Tribute to Jesse Helms, The Taste of the Leftovers, 2001: A Spaced Odyssey, Reflections and Experiences of Jimi Hendrix. They do a mix of deconstructed parodies (including three Beatles songs; one each from Marvin Gaye, Tim Hardin, and Dizzy Gillespie) and perverse protest songs ("Cheney's Hunting Ducks" is a choice cut, "Girl From Al-Qaeda" is abducted and held hostage from Jobim and Getz). Chadbourne plays some extreme skronk guitar, and Oxford avant-gardist Pat Thomas slums with some amusing keyboards. Title parses as: you won't believe this until you hear it. B+(***)

Bobby Few: Lights and Shadows (2004 [2007], Boxholder): Pianist, born in Cleveland in 1935, followed Albert Ayler to New York in 1962 and headed further east in 1969 to France, where he teamed up with Steve Lacy. Still in Paris, with a sizable discography. This one's solo, original improvs except for a Lacy piece. My usual caveats about solo piano apply, including my difficulty finding words, but this strikes me as well above average, the work of someone who's spent a lot of time digesting Lacy's oeuvre, itself built on the work of pianists Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. B+(*)

Jason Kao Hwang/Edge: Stories Before Within (2007 [2008], Innova): Hwang was born in the US (Waukegan, IL), of Chinese extraction. He made a strong effort to master Chinese classical music, but now works mostly in avant jazz. He plays violin, often with a Chinese inflection. He has several records I've been very impressed by -- e.g., Ravish Momin's Climbing the Banyan Tree. Group here: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet), Ken Filiano (bass), Andrew Drury (drums). Bynum was a student of Anthony Braxton, and still plays with Braxton -- I've tried to get hold of some of his material, thus far to no avail. Filiano, as I've mentioned many times by now, always seems to show up on good records. Got distracted in the middle of writing this and lost my thread, but I wanted to give it more time anyway. [B+(***)]

The David Finck Quartet: Future Day (2007 [2008], Soundbrush): Bassist, from Philadelphia I think, studied in Rochester, settled in New York. First album as leader, but he's done quite a bit of studio work: his website lists 122 albums going back to 1980; AMG comes up with more. He's worked with a lot of singers, mostly pop -- he flags 5 gold and 4 platinum albums, including Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook series -- but also Rosemary Clooney, Harry Connick Jr., Mark Murphy, Peter Cincotti, and one album with Sheila Jordan. Some other credits include Steve Kuhn, Paquito D'Rivera, Claudio Roditti, and André Previn, who praises him lavishly. He wrote two pieces here, with four more from the band, and six covers. Starts off with a nice bass groove, and much of the album is deliriously upbeat. Locke's strong suit is the way he interacts with pianists, effectively turning the two of them into one supersplashy instrument. Jeremy Pelt (trumpet) and Bob Sheppard (tenor sax) appear here and there as special guests. I didn't keep score -- you don't really notice them until you realize that things have slowed down a bit, which probably isn't a good sign. B

The Joe Locke Quartet: Sticks and Strings (2007 [2008], Jazz Eyes): No piano for once, actually a nice change of pace. The strings are Jonathan Kreisberg's electric and acoustic guitars and Jay Anderson's bass. The sticks would be drummer Joe La Barbera and the vibraphonist. The mix is unusual, with Kreisberg providing texture and Locke accents. (AMG compares this to Gary Burton/Pat Metheny, which if memory serves isn't right at all.) [B+(**)]

Jerry Leake: Vibrance: Jazz Vibes & World Percussion (2005-06 [2008], Rhombus Publishing): Leake teaches percussion with an insatiable desire to span the world, writes books about it, and produces CDs that could function as textbooks. Although vibraphone is front and center here, his credits include a couple dozen other percussion objects from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The only other players are Jonathan Dimond on electric bass and Lisa Leake with a couple of rather odd vocals -- two Jobim songs in the first semester ("Theme 1: jazz/latin & world percussion") and "My Funny Valentine" in the second ("Theme 2: standard jazz"). The extras tend to distract. Lots of everything here, but short on focus. Leake has an interesting approach to vibes. B

Marc Copland: The New York Trio Recordings, Vol. 2: Voices (2006 [2007], Pirouet): Pianist, originally from Philadelphia, based in New York, closing in on 60 now. Always well regarded. I've only heard a couple of his records, and don't have Vol. 1 to compare this one to. What I've heard before struck me as good, and this as better. One could say that by association at least he's moved into the front ranks of contemporary pianists: he's working here with Gary Peacock (as he has many times in the past) and Paul Motian (who has a Hall of Fame career making pianists look good, starting with Bill Evans; Copland's usual drummers have been Billy Hart and Bill Stewart). One of those quietly unassuming piano records that sneaks up on you, never hitting a false note, full of subtle nuances, the only thing we've come to expect from masters like Peacock and Motian. [B+(***)]

James Silberstein: Expresslane (2008, CAP): Guitarist. Not much bio info, just that he's been "a working pro on the New York scene for the past 25 years." Second album. AMG doesn't list any more credits. He has a nice loping rhythm and clean tone, but doesn't run off much, mostly because he has a lot of help here. Most important is bassist Harvey S (né Swartz), who wrote some, arranged more, and keeps the rhythm running, often with tricks he picked up mastering Latin jazz. Horns come and go: Eric Alexander's tenor sax, Jim Rotondi's trumpet and flugelhorn, Steve Davis' trombone, Anne Drummond's flute. Kate McGarry scats on one of the two flute tunes, which barely survives on the strength of S's bassline. Website points out that this hit #13 on the radio charts in its first week. This kind of mix up is typical of a radio focus -- something for everyone -- but doesn't help over the course of an album. [PS: Got ahead of myself here: last piece is a 2:04 solo, a good example of his guitar.] B+(*)